Life in the Fast Lane: Convoy
by Meriem Clayton
Summary: Sequel to Life in the Fast Lane: Sam. The fame that came to Sam, Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c when the Stargate became public almost destroyed them. Reunited, can they and their children make a difference
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimers/Notes:

One of the worst parts of being famous in today's world is the constant scrutiny of every detail of your private life by the world at large. This is a major theme of this series of stories. I applaud the responsible reporters who are motivated by a desire to give the public the information it needs to make informed decisions and who avoid intrusive reporting on private lives. I do not intend to include ethical journalists in my portrayal of the damage done by the bottom feeding segment of the media that is less concerned about truth or impact on the subjects of stories than in how many readers/viewers a story will attract.

This story was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt has been made to copyright any characters which may not have been originally created by the author, and no profit is made from this work of fiction. Any original characters and the stories themselves are the property of the author.

I appreciate all feedback, laudatory or critical, greatly but receive some from people who do not have e-mail addresses to which to respond. Please accept my thanks here if I am not able to e-mail it to you.

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Jack O'Neill didn't really expect the phone ringing next to where he sat, comfortably ensconced in his favorite chair, to yield up anything surprising. True, caller id showed an unknown caller but he had been extremely careful with the number. He almost picked up without waiting to see if the caller knew the secret code. Once Sara had enjoyed teasing him about the elaborate anti-trespassing mechanisms and the other stratagems he had put in place to preserve their privacy. That level of banter was now beyond her befuddled state. To hold on to the woman who had been his wife for so much of his life against the inroads of Parkinson's and other problems, he sometimes made up her words for her in his head. "You're going to end up needing a passcode to hear your own thoughts, Jack," he told himself as Sara. He waited while the phone rang twice and cut off, then three times and cut off. When it started in again, he picked it up immediately. "O'Neill," he answered, the terse greeting a habit from his long military career. 

"Jack," said an unfamiliar voice, uncertainly.

"Only other O'Neill here is female so it must be," he said, sarcasm creeping in. Reaching him by phone was an ordeal. It seemed asinine for someone to go to all that trouble and not be sure who he was going to find on the other end.

He may have heard a sigh. "Given the rudeness and sarcasm, I feel very comfortable I have the right person," his caller said dryly.

Having his own tactics thrown back in his face, Jack suddenly knew the caller. The voice wasn't really unfamiliar; it was just deeper. "Johnny? Is that you, son?"

"Yeah, Jack, it's your bouncing baby boy," came the answer, leaving Jack completely uncertain how to proceed, that was until he had a sudden, cold chill.

"It's not your mother, is it? Sam's okay, isn't she?" he demanded, the stark fear clear in his voice. Then, in response to another unwelcome thought, "Teal'c, he's okay right?"

Johnny sounded quite surprised, whether by Jack's assumption that something was wrong with Sam or her husband, or by the fact that it obviously mattered to Jack wasn't clear. "Mom and our own favorite ex-snake-in-the-box stepdaddy are fine. And, in case, you read the gossip column stuff about us being on the outs, my kid brother, Jonas, smoothed it over. We're one big, sort of happy, family again. In fact, we're the modern paradigm of a happy family when you think about it. None of the kids have the same father and the guy on the premises now isn't related to any of them. Of course the fact that he's from outer space does act our own special dimension."

"I guess I need a clue as to why you're calling then, Johnny," Jack said, leaning back into the soft leather embrace of his chair, thinking, "The kid's got my sarcasm but I have NEVER nattered on that, have I?" He closed his eyes and massaged his temples with the hand not holding the phone.

"Could you possibly be unaware that my brother Jake's dad, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Ph.D, Ph.D., Ph.D., has returned to planet Earth?" Johnny asked.

The news made Jack want to jump up and down but he knew he couldn't show it to Johnny. Daniel had agreed, without setting a specific date, to come back from Lisseth after Jack had practically gotten down on his knees to request it by way of the DVD he had sent Daniel 3 months ago. The self-imposed exile had gone on way too long from Jack's point of view, since Daniel's divorce from Sam. At first Daniel had, at least, returned to see his son, Jake, and Jack's Johnny, whom Daniel had come to love as his own during his marriage to Sam. Then the boys had started refusing to see either Daniel or Jack. Daniel had become only a face and a voice in a DVD Jack received monthly.

The request to Daniel had been couched in terms of the family situation because he suspected his communications to Daniel weren't private. That wasn't the whole picture. He had been approached by some highly placed government figures and Daniel was part of the answer. He had wanted to go to Lisseth to see Daniel but, even for a celebrated hero, the government wasn't accommodating personal trips for those outside the program. Deep within himself, he guiltily acknowledged that he was almost glad for the crisis because he needed Daniel to here. Six years was too long to go without seeing the man who had become the closest friend he would ever have.

"I don't keep up with the news much any more," Jack said, adding silently, "Because I am trying to take care of a women who is loosing more of herself everyday." The new medicine that had seemed so hopeful had apparently somehow backfired and Sara's downhill slide was accelerating again. "I'm a little confused as to why you would call me about it."

"Come on, Jack," Johnny said. "I watched you and Daniel together when he'd come along on my visits with you back in the day. You guys were really close. It was weird considering that he broke up your marriage to my Mom."

Jack interrupted, "A little thought readjustment, Johnny. Daniel didn't break Sam and I up. The general public just wanted to believe a lot of ugly things about Daniel and your mother, and Sara and I. It was the lies, not the facts, that hurt us."

"Moving right along," Johnny said, "I could tell that you two were the best of friends and I figured, no way he'd come back and you wouldn't know what the agenda was."

"You figured wrong." Jack pitched the bald faced lie to his son without the slightest qualm of conscience.

"Look, Jack, I don't want him messing with Jake's head. Jake's enough of a basket case already."

Jack silently agreed with that assessment but kept it to himself. "Daniel loves Jake and you. Actually he loves Jonas too even though he's never met him, just because he's you guys' kid brother and Sam's son. He has no intention of hurting any of you."

"You can believe that if it floats your boat. On to door number two," Johnny continued, "I would also like to know who this cast of thousands was that rolled into town with Dr. J."

Jack could make a guess but he was totally blown away that Daniel hadn't come alone. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Johnny chuckled. "I'd say the quality of that reaction differed enough from the first response that you really DO know why he's here but DON'T know who all these people are with him. It doesn't much matter. Stargate Command will have to release the names soon enough since the whole world saw them arrive on the Gate Cam feed. I just wasn't feeling patient."

Silence stretched out for several moments. Then Johnny said, in what was clearly an attempt to be conciliatory, his tone almost pleading, "Please ask him to stay away from Jake. Look, I'll come and talk with him, answer his questions, if that's what it takes."

Jack was thunderstruck. This was a monumental offer. Jake must be even more seriously screwed up that he had suspected. "That's generous of you, Johnny. IF I talk to Daniel, I'll pass it along."

"Chao then," Johnny said and Jack was left holding the phone and listening to a dial tone and wishing with everything in him that Johnny had offered to come and talk to him as well. He resolutely told himself he had enough drama dealing with Sara. He couldn't spare the cycles to lament his lost son. The memories were really strong and he found himself doing anyway.

He remembered how Johnny had been a rather solemn little boy. The sarcastic edge had come much later. Johnny had learned to read very early and never went anywhere without a book. He listened and observed everything intently and peppered adults he decided were smart with a constant barrage of questions about how and why things worked the way they did. Jack tried to play catch with him but Johnny would be impatient after a few minutes to do something else. When his father asked one day why he didn't enjoy catch, eight-year old Johnny said, "It's boring. I understand it already."

Like a man who can't resist picking at a scab, he found himself remembering that fateful glorious autumn Saturday. That was during a period when something had kept Daniel close to Lisseth for a few months and he had not joined in the visit. Jack had forced Johnny to go outside their cottage at a luxury hotel instead of sitting reading while Jack answered a couple of phone calls. Johnny had simply pulled a notebook from a pocket and had been sitting absolutely still, his glasses slipping down his nose, taking notes on what he observed happening to an anthill that had somehow escaped the relentless staff of gardeners. Jack had just looked out the window to check on him when two boys came by and decided to have a good time with the little blonde boy watching the ants so intently.

"Hey, four-eyes, watcha writing there?" One boy asked while the other snatched the notebook out of his hand.

"Please give that back to me," Johnny asked politely, at least sounding unintimidated to his father's concerned ears.

"Maybe, maybe not," the boy holding the notebook said and then he tore the top page off, wadded it up, and threw it to the other boy.

"You have no right to do that, you idiot," Johnny said hotly.

Before Jack could get out the door, Johnny was flat on his back with one boy sitting on his stomach and the other trying to stuff dirt in his mouth. Jack picked up a boy by his neck in either hand and shook them in the air like a terrier would do. He later couldn't understand where he got the strength. Johnny got slowly to his feet and picked up his notebook. It was only then when he saw its ruined condition that a tear slid down his face.

Jack took Johnny inside and got him cleaned up but he was shaken on some fundamental level. A man didn't have a right to expect his son to be just like him but this boy wasn't within a country mile of little rough and tumble Jackie O'Neill. In fact, as he watched Johnny sleep from the doorway of the boy's room later that evening, he couldn't help but think about Daniel, about the stories Daniel had told him about the treatment a shy but brilliant little boy receives at the hands of other children.

That was when Jack made the decision that ultimately destroyed his relationship with Johnny. He took the dirty Band-Aid out of the wastebasket that he had replaced with a clean one on his son's knee. A few days later he submitted it with a blood sample of his own for a DNA paternity test. The test came back showing that Johnny was his, without a shadow of a doubt.

The test became a sort of talisman as he and Johnny continued to have a very difficult time connecting. Johnny was not at all interested in sports. He wanted to read books. By the time he was 11 he had started bringing a guitar on visits and Jack was severely tempted at times to bash it over a rock since Johnny spent far more time communing with it than he did with his father. Johnny was increasingly resentful of suggestions from Jack that they play ball or hike or fish. The boy wasn't particularly good at any of these activities when he did reluctantly participate in them. It seemed to Jack he wasn't making the least bit of effort but comments to that effect enraged Johnny. Once he exploded at Jack, saying, "I sorry I can't be the son you want. Just give up, okay. It's not that I'm not trying, it's that I'm not any good at the stuff you want me to do."

When Jack was particularly confused as to how to deal with a son who hailed from another country of the heart and soul than his own, he would look at the test and remind himself that this was, indeed, his son and, therefore, there must be a way for them to act like father and son.

Johnny was 12 when he found the test. Even a child half as brilliant would have figured out why his father felt it necessary to have a test like this performed. Visits were incredibly unpleasant after that. It was compounded when Johnny did the research that unearthed all the tabloid gossip about Daniel and Sam from before he was born not to mention the lies about his father and Sara. He had angrily hurled accusations at both Daniel and Jack and refused to listen to their side of it. Something about life with Brad Smith had left him barely rational when it came to men who couldn't control their sexual urges.

Johnny had done a very thorough job of poisoning Jake's mind against Daniel. It wasn't hard for Johnny since he had always been the major influence in Jake's life. "If only I had had enough of the boy's time," Jack thought, "I could have worked through it but when you see someone for less than 3 weeks total in a year, things don't get resolved."

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Daniel was irritated with himself that he had waited until the last minute to get Jack on board. Daniel had only given him the vaguest of timetables. Now Daniel and his family were camping out in Cheyenne Mountain while he belatedly tried to put the logistics together. The reason for the procrastination, his family, was spread out on the floor in front of him. They had pulled the cushions off the couches and put them on the floor where they now sat, more comfortable than they had been since coming through the gate and being gawked at nonstop. Daniel knew he had delayed because he was dead certain that Jack had expected him to come alone.

There was a heap of clothing in the middle of the circle of cross-legged Jacksons and each of them was inspecting the new wardrobe from their own perspective. Both men and women wore loose pants under their robes on Lisseth but nobody had ever seen closefitting pants like the jeans. "These people aren't fighting all the time, are they?" Jak asked, a little concerned by what the blue jeans seemed to be indicating.

"Jak means, you don't let people see your legs when you're not fighting, do you?" Chiona followed up, embarrassed but secretly thrilled by the notion. "I mean there aren't any robes, anything to go over them."

"You've watched the DVDs I get from Jack. What do you think?" Daniel asked her, fighting back a smile.

"But those were, I don't know, like, like pretend. This is real," Trina said, more than a little scandalized.

Tealk held up a bra he had picked up from the pile in front of one of his sisters. "What is this for?"

Jak rolled his eyes and said to his little brother, "What do girls have on their bodies that would fit into that?" Tealk dropped it like a hot potato.

Suddenly Seline said with more elation than Daniel could remember hearing in her voice since her husband died. "LOOK AT THIS!" He looked over to see her holding a white lump in the air. "Danny's clean and I can just throw this AWAY!" Everyone applauded enthusiastically. Even little Tealk had had to deal with baby Danny's dirty diapers. This was the finest aspect of Tauri society they had seen so far.

Trina asked, "Dei, where are we going after we change our clothes?"

Goaded into action, Daniel said, "Let me see what I can do about that." He pulled out the cell phone he had been given minutes before and Jack's telephone number from a pocket and stepped into the adjoining bathroom to make the call.

"Jack, it's Daniel."

"I thought so. Johnny just called me and wanted an explanation of what you were doing here and who all the people are with you. I take it you brought the entire family?"

"Kind of, yeah," he rushed on, "can you accommodate all of us?"

"How would they be with Sara?" Jack asked.

"They're used to helping. Think about it. Their mother was blind. Sara's not blind but they are used to taking into consideration that not everyone is the same."

"That'd be fine then. I could use a little help with Sara actually. And Daniel, Johnny offered to come and see you, talk with you about Jake. He's very concerned that it might be bad for Jake to see you."

"That sounds insane but if the delusion gets Johnny back where we can establish contact again maybe we should thank God for it."

"So I should put that in motion, you think?"

"Let's do it. I've got transportation lined up. We'll be there later today. Thanks for having us Jack."

He'd hung up before Jack could say, "No problem."

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Sam and Teal'c were sitting across from each other, the remains of a late lunch between them. The food on Sam's plate hadn't been so much eaten as rearranged. Teal'c looked at it thoughtfully. He took her hand and said, "We can talk about it Samantha."

She put her hand over his, sandwiching it between her two. "I keep thinking about how wonderful it felt to have all of us together again finally. And, in the end, it seemed so silly that we had spent so long not talking. Nobody was mad any more. It was just that nobody knew how to make the first move."

Teal'c tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were fretting about DanielJackson returning. I was wrong."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "No, my dear, you were right. What I was thinking was that Daniel coming back is just like when we patched things up with our boys, with Johnny and Jake, a few days ago. All these years of no contact with Jack and Daniel. I'm not the same person any more and I bet they aren't either. But someone needs to make the first move."

Teal'c shook his head slightly. "You may have moved on, Samantha, but Johnny and Jake haven't. When parents fight, the children are still dealing with it long after the parents have gone on."

Sam felt a tear slip down her cheeks. "What have I done, Teal'c?"

He reached over and wiped the tear away. "You did nothing hurtful on purpose. At your lowest point, you never stopped loving your boys. I have waited long for you to speak of Daniel and Jack. I am very glad you have come to this place."

She got up and went and sat in his lap and he rested his cheek against her hair. "Samantha, DanielJackson is with GeneralO'Neill in Minnesota."

She pulled back and looked into his face, "How do you know that? The last update I heard was that no one knew where they had gone."

"Samantha, it is time for you to know something. GeneralO'Neill and DanielJackson never stopped caring about you. They have worried about you all these years. When I came back and began to spend time with you after Jonas was born, they told me that it would make them very happy if we ended up together. They trusted me to not hurt you and keep you safe from men like Jonas' father. I talk to Jack every couple of weeks. He gets a DVD once a month from Daniel and sends him one in return. He reassures Daniel from me that you are well."

Sam had absolutely no idea how to react to this. She was certainly angry that this had been kept from her but she was also extremely touched that two men she had not treated as well as she might have both still cared so much about her. All sorts of thoughts chased themselves through her mind. One stopped her cold. "Did they ask you to marry me?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Samantha, a warrior's commander can send him into battle to die but he does not have the right to send him into marriage."

"Not Jack as your commander perhaps but Jack and Daniel as your friends?"

Teal'c simply said, "What do you think Samantha?

Sam laughed, "I guess that would be pretty extreme even for a romance novel."

"Precisely," Teal'c said.

"Who are these people with Daniel, then?" Sam asked. Teal'c hesitated, puffed his cheeks out a moment, and finally answered. "Daniel was married and these are his children and his stepdaughter."

"Daniel was married?" Sam's whole comforting notion of Daniel pining for her was severely shaken. She felt both like a fool and a very bad person for wishing he had been yearning for her, but she couldn't seem to help herself. "What do you mean was?"

"You noticed the black smudge on his forehead in the Gate cam feed that the networks have been replaying? A widower wears ashes on their forehead until he marries again. Iona died, I guess about 6 years ago, when my namesake was a baby."

"Namesake?" Sam asked, incredulously. She didn't even know Daniel had kids and one of them was named after her husband. He nodded.

"Tell me about her, about Iona," Sam prodded.

"Iona looked a lot like Sha'ree and she was blind. She developed such good mechanisms for coping that you hardly noticed. There was a little girl by her first marriage, Seline. Iona and Daniel seemed happy."

"You sound like you met her," Sam said, waiting for the next bombshell.

"I spent a month there after my wife died. That's the longest they let anyone off world stay." Seeing her raised eyebrow, he clarified. "The rule doesn't apply to Daniel. He is not a Tauri anymore. He's full fledged Blue."

Sam digested this and then demanded, "If there is anything else, I mean ANYTHING else you know about Daniel that you haven't told me, now would be the time."

"There is nothing else, Samantha," he assured her.

A couple of hours later, Sam came looking for Teal'c and announced decisively, "We should go to Minnesota and we should take the boys with us."

"They are not young ones you can load into the back of an SUV even though they protest the whole time that they will be missing a soccer game," Teal'c warned.

"Jonas will come because I ask him and he'll be worried about protecting me. Jake will come out of curiosity. Perversity, too, just because he loves doing the opposite of what he thinks people expect. Maybe Jonas will ask him which would seal the deal. Oh and he'll be thinking of the publicity they can milk out of it for their band. Johnny will come to protect Jake." Sam looked at Teal'c for affirmation and he slowly nodded, a slight smile on his lips.

"I'll call GeneralO'Neill and DanielJackson."

"Don't you call them," Sam warned. "I think we just show up and don't give them a chance to say no."

The next step was to get the Golden Brothers organized. They might come up with creative excuses but theoretically they should be as available as their celebrity status ever permitted. Jonas' television show had just finished filming and he had a month before his movie commitment. Johnny and Jake had deliberately not scheduled anything for the band because they were working on new material for the next album. Jonas was very receptive to the idea for himself but very frankly told his mother, "Johnny is going to freak."

"Why?" Sam asked. "Why Johnny but not Jake?" Jonas had become her faithful interpreter to her other two sons who had grown into mysteries to her.

"Jake worries about everybody but Johnny is so consumed with worrying about Jake he doesn't have time for anyone else." He looked at his mother. "If you want some psychological analysis from someone completely unqualified to give it, I think it's at least partly because Jake had to have stitches that time when he was with Johnny and they were what 5 and 6?" Jonas shrugged. "Anyway, Johnny is so convinced that Jake is about to have a complete meltdown, he tries to insulate him from anything that could get too emotionally intense. The problems between Phoebe and Jake aren't really what you read in the tabloids. They're mostly Johnny's interference. Actually, I think she's about had it which would be too bad. I really liked her."

"Meanwhile Johnny lets his own problems fester unresolved," Sam mused, more to herself than Jonas.

"Precisely," Jonas said, bringing Sam's attention back to him. Sam smiled a little to herself. She wonder if Jonas had any idea how many of Teal'c's mannerisms he had picked up.

Sam tackled Jake next. Jake sounded very odd on the phone, slurring his words a little, but yet not drunk. Sam found herself wondering if he was on something. "Sure, Mom, why the hell not," he drawled. "Sure don't need to stay here for Phoebe." Something crashed and shattered.

"What was that breaking sound, Jake?" his mother asked, trying not to sound worried.

"Strangest thing, Mom. Phoebe's picture just fell on the floor all the way across the room. Don't try to distract me, Mom. There's something I want to ask. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's it. Who are those people that were with Doctor Dad?"

"Your half-brothers and sisters and your stepsister," Sam said deciding there was no reason to hold back information.

"He's even more fertile than you are. Good thing you didn't stay together. I'd be starring in a reprise of 'Cheaper By the Dozen.' I'll come but I gotta go now Mom. This phone is realllly heavy."

Johnny hadn't been with Jake and it took a half an hour to get him to answer his cell phone. She heard chopper noise in the background. "Where are you? Why haven't you been answering the cell?"

"See Mom, this is one reason we didn't talk for awhile," he responded.

"Where…are…you?" she asked again, recognizing the indirection for what it was.

"Why are you calling, Mom?" he countered.

"Teal'c, Jake, Jonas, and I are going to Minnesota tomorrow to see Daniel and your dad and I'd like you to come with us."

"How can a woman world famous for being brilliant be so damn dumb?" Johnny asked with absolutely no respect.

Sam thought, "I guess we're going to be on the outs again real soon but I'm not putting up with much more of this lip." She said, speaking evenly by dint of strong self-control. "That was uncalled for and you know it. We're going with or without you but I'd like you to come."

"Well, actually, I'm already there. I'm just a few miles from dear old Jack's place right now." Sam was stunned. After awhile, Johnny asked, "You still there?"

"Yeah. Look, Johnny, don't say anything to anyone about us coming," Sam requested.

"I don't see what difference it makes. They're not going to turn Jake away. But, okay. Let the great reunion begin."


	2. Chapter 2

Seline could tell that her father's friend, Big Jack, as her family always referred to him, was getting over being annoyed with Danil, if he had been, for bringing the family along. His namesake, Jak, had been dogging his every footstep and she could tell he kind of liked it. Her littlest brother, Tealk, had taken an immediate shine to Sara and crawled into her lap with a book within minutes of meeting her. Sara kept forgetting who he was or why he was there but she had read to him for hours. Sometimes she seemed to think he was someone named Charlie. It was obvious Big Jack appreciated the happiness they were giving his sweet, childlike, wife. Trina and Chiona fussed over Sara, bringing her tea, and generally watching her carefully to see that she had everything that she needed. Seline, herself, had shared baby Danny with Sara and been rewarded with a smile.

Danil was constantly in demand by her younger siblings, answering questions or letting them show him things. The O'Neills must have more water stored up than she could imagine, given the constant use of the bathrooms by someone running water or flushing the toilet, just to flush it. They had only been there for a few hours and everyone had already had a shower or a bath. Seline had tried to act more dignified than the little ones but had taken full advantage of her turn for a bath to flush the toilet a few times and experiment with all the things one could do with the faucets. Before they left Lisseth, Daniel had shown them DVDs and pointed out all the common features of typical American life. Actually getting up close and personal with all of it was another story. Take ice. Who would have thought that something so cold would feel almost like it was burning you when you held it? Still, nothing had yet come up to the total wonderfulness of disposable diapers.

Chiona and Trina had just discovered Big Jack's media collection and had started an ancient MacGyver episode for their little brothers. The two boys were lying on their stomachs, watching enthralled along with Sara who sat in her rocking chair right behind them. The girls were having a great time sampling Chuck Berry. Jack and Daniel were in the kitchen talking intently. Their conversation was in low tones but it still added to the noise level in the room. Little Danny was getting increasingly fussy and, just as she sometimes did in the close quarters back home, she took him outside to quiet down in the dark. 

She was just on the other side of cement square where the helicopter had deposited all of them a few hours earlier and a very long way from the house. The noises inside it were lost to her and Danny was asleep under the afghan she had thrown around her, clutching her long braid. The night was relatively warm and the night sounds, although unfamiliar, were comforting. She closed her eyes and reached out to Danny's father. "See your baby, my husband. I tell him about you everyday. He didn't seem to mind the cold of the Stargate and he seems interested in this new place. There is a sweet woman here, confused as the old sometimes are, and he made her smile. I've loved you since we were children and now it's been almost a year since I last saw your face, Mindo. I see you in Danny every time I look at him. I think I would go mad otherwise; I miss you so much."

Her communion with her departed husband was interrupted by an increasingly loud sound. She looked up and gasped to see a helicopter approaching rapidly. Seline reacted like a doe in the headlights and ran further into the darkness to put more distance between herself and the baby and the landing pad. This was only the second time she had seen one of these machines and the first time she had ever watched one land. It was hard to know how far away she had to be for safety. Danny woke up, startled by the noise and began to scream at the top of his lungs.

A man emerged from the helicopter which remained on the pad with its blades gradually slowing. He stood very still for awhile and Seline wondered what he waited for. She saw him square his shoulders and start slowly toward the house. The image of a warrior going cautiously into battle came to Seline's mind. He stopped and turned in her direction. Seline found it hard to believe that he had heard Danny over the slowly abating noise of the helicopter but that seemed to be the case. He circled the helicopter and began to walk toward her. He had very long blonde hair, a color not found among her people, and strands lifted and moved in the air stirred by the last few turns of the helicopter blades. 

Rather than wait in the dark like frightened prey, Seline began to walk toward him. They met at the far edge of the helicopter light's reach into the night. He studied her for a moment, it seemed, and then asked without a hint of friendliness, his voice pitched to be heard over Danny's soft sobs, "You came through the gate with Daniel Jackson?"

Seline had a lifetime's training making her very wary of an encounter with a strange man in the dark. She simply gave back, "Yes," and continued to gently bounce the baby, murmuring to him, "Ssssssh, Danny, sssssh."

He cocked his head. "Danny, huh? So this is Jackson's kid?"

Still wary, and now insulted, Seline curtly responded, "No." Then the man turned so that the light was no longer at his back and she could see his face better. He had a small beard on his chin and she instantly relaxed. "Danil was my mother's husband and, so, he couldn't ever be mine." She tacked on curiously, "Would your laws allow that?"

"I'm sure," Johnny responded. He moved a little closer and captured Danny's flailing hand. The baby stopped crying, interested in this new person. "Where's his father then?"

She pointed at her forehead and then realized that he probably couldn't see the ashes nor would know their meaning. "The ashes on my forehead and those you will see on Danil mean that our spouses are dead."

"Oh," Johnny said, slightly embarrassed at having asked the question. "I'm sorry." He seemed eager to change the subject then. "I'm Johnny O'Neill."

Seline said, "Big Jack's son. I know. I'm Seline."

"Big Jack?" Johnny repeated putting the emphasis on the word big.

Seline explained, "We always referred to him that way to avoid confusion with my little brother Jak."

"Daniel married a woman with several children?" Johnny asked, sounding slightly surprised.

"Oh no. There was only me but Danil and my mother had Chiona and Trina, my half sisters, and then Jak and Tealk, my half-brothers."

Danny reached out to Johnny and Johnny looked at Seline for approval before taking him. Seline was used to the bearded men of her camp taking an active interest in the little ones since their choice of partners meant they would never have wives or children of their own. Johnny and Seline began to walk toward the house and Seline was comfortable enough with him now to ask, "I thought you had no interest in honoring your father. I am surprised to see you here."

Johnny couldn't help but laugh. She spoke perfect English but turns of phrases like this made it obvious she hadn't grown up here. "I'm here to see Daniel." He found himself supplying the rest of the explanation as well. "I want him to stay away from Jake."

They were just at the foot of the porch and she caught his arm to stop him. "We can be allies then. I'm only here because Danny has something wrong with his foot and Danil says the doctors can fix it. But as soon as that is done, we need to all go back to Lisseth. Our place is there and our people need Danil. As for Jake, he hurt Danil too many times. Danil has other sons and he doesn't need Jake nor any contact with your," she swallowed the word 'cruel', "your mother." Seline pulled the small silvery blade from the sheath at the back of her waist and held it for Johnny to see. "If any of the Tauri, family or not, hurt Danil, I'll cut their heart out." She took Danny back and went through the door, leaving Johnny, dumbfounded, to trail meekly behind her.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Jack handed Daniel a cold bottle of beer and gave him a look that said, "We need to talk."

Jak, standing next to Jack, said, "Please tell us, Uncle Jack, about the time you saved Dei's life."

Daniel said quietly, but firmly, to the boy, "Jak, he's been telling you stories for the last hour. He needs to talk to me now. Please give us some grown up time now."

"But Dei," Jak protested.

"Now," Daniel said in a tone that brooked no further discussion. Jak walked off slowly, looking back once reproachfully, and plopped down next to his little brother who was waiting for Chiona to start something for them to watch.

"He's a class A manipulator," Daniel said, ruefully, to Jack, careful to keep his voice down so that he wouldn't be overheard. "I suppose you want an explanation as to why I brought everyone?"

"Would be nice, Daniel," Jack answered. "And it had better be good."

"You're the only Tauri I trust Jack. I thought they might decide to block me going back or to secure the Ancient site for themselves, local wishes be damned, if I wasn't there. I had to take the risk and come anyway but I didn't want to take any chance of being separated from my kids or anything happening to them because I wasn't there to watch out for them," Daniel answered, hoisting himself up to sit on the kitchen counter where he could see at least part of the adjoining room and his little boys.

Jack hopped up next to him and looked at him curiously. "'The Tauri' Daniel? Last time I looked you were an earthling."

Daniel slanted a look at Jack and rested his hand on Jack's leg. "I don't feel like one, Jack. I think in the Blue's language now. It feels really strange, not sitting on the floor and having my legs showing like this when I am at peace with someone."

Jack looked pointedly at Daniel's hand. Daniel grimaced and removed it, explaining. "I'm sorry. Conversation between friends of the same sex is like that. If I were talking to a friend and there was no contact, he would think I was mad at him."

"How about if I promise NOT to think you're mad at me ever? Back to what you said. Your legs showing? That's a bit missish, isn't it?" Jack said.

"The custom is there's a robe, a long covering, unless there are hostilities. Having your legs show means you are about to fight. It's very hostile. The kids had a really tough time with the jeans until I reassured them that everyone would not assume they were spoiling for an argument." 

"Okaaay then. No Rockettes for Lisseth. I guess 18 years is a long time to spend someplace without it changing you."

"Jack, you keep saying that. You said it on the DVD. It hasn't been 18 years." Daniel starting ticking things off on his fingers. "Johnny was born in 2006 and Jake in 2007. Sam and I got divorced in early 2011. Jonas and Chiona were both born in 2012. Trina was born in 2015, Jak in 2018, Iona and I lost baby Janet in 2021, Tealk was born and Iona died in 2024, and Teal'c and Sam finally got married in 2026. Last time I looked it was 2030. 19 years on Lisseth, not 18."

"I think we could have gotten to that number without your personnel version of the begats from Genesis. So every three years, huh?" Jack observed, "Sort of like Spock only that was only every 7 years. You must have gotten pretty horny."

Daniel looked at him over the top of his glasses and said, pedantically, "That's the natural consequence of nursing a child for about 2 years. Primitive people have used that to space children since the beginning."

Jack looked very not interested even though he had brought the subject up. He pulled a pad of paper and a stub of a pencil out of his hip pocket and wrote something. He showed it to Daniel, saying, "Here's something I don't want to talk about in front of the kids." 

Daniel read, "I don't think there are any bugs or remote listening that can hear us but you can't be sure. There is a major threat to Lisseth and every other low technology planet with anything of value. We'll need to discuss this as soon as we can and try to cover it as something else."

Daniel said, "Good grief Jack. I don't know the first thing about," he lowered his voice to a stage whisper, "prostate problems or their relationship to impotence."

Jack looked at Daniel with a mixture of admiration for his inventiveness and irritation at his solution. "Well I don't either. It would be a purely theoretical discussion."

Daniel chuckled, "Sure Jack. Whatever you say." The two men dropped down from their perches and went to stand in the doorway to watch the children. Daniel surprised Jack when he did start talking again. "I want to find a husband for Seline and a way for Chiona and Trina to stay here. They don't have much chance of a marriage that will make them happy on Lisseth and there's no place for an unmarried woman after a certain age. Any ideas?"

"Are you serious, Daniel? Do I look like a matchmaker to you? I don't even know how to sing a single song from 'Fiddler on the Roof.' Surely you're not thinking Seline and Johnny?"

On the heels of his words, the door opened and Seline and Johnny entered. Jack had seen hundreds of photos of Johnny but the reality standing just inside the door still had an impact like a blow to the gut. When he had last seen Johnny face to face, he had been a gawky teen in mid-adolescence. Now he was a fully grown man, with a man's muscular frame. Jack had seen that face before, in the mirror every morning as a matter of fact, and he had seen the expression too, the jaw jutted out slightly, the very slight sardonic smile. Johnny wasn't letting anyone in and he would strike first before anyone even tried.

Jack had been trained to always notice everything around him and, even though he was focused on Johnny, he took in the two little boys scrambling to their feet, Trina rising and taking Sara's hand, lest she be upset by a stranger, and Chiona going to Seline and whispering in her ear and the two young women laughing softly together.

"Well, isn't this a real Hallmark moment?" Johnny asked. There was a variety of reactions in the room but no one spoke.

Suddenly little Tealk ran over to Johnny and tugged on his shirt sleeve. In a clearly audible whisper, he said, "You gots to wait for the host to speak 'fore you say anything. It's the rule. I get in a lot of trouble for it too. "

Daniel's family all exploded with laughter. The O'Neills didn't get what was funny but Sara laughed happily along with everyone else, caught up in their amusement. Jack and Johnny wore nearly identical expressions of puzzlement, neither being aware of the cardinal rule of good manners among the Blue People or Tealk's difficulty in maintaining prolonged silence under any circumstances.

Tealk wasn't finished and signaled Johnny for his attention again. "Tell him he has many fine mounts and it might be okay."

Daniel, still smiling at his youngest, came forward and scooped Tealk up. He whispered something softly in the little boy's ear in a liquid and unfamiliar language. Tealk nodded solemnly. Daniel impulsively hugged Johnny, Tealk between them. Johnny stood like a statue, not participating at all, but then Tealk hugged Johnny's neck. Except for the color of his hair, the little boy looked exactly like a young Jake and Johnny couldn't help but pat his hand. Then they all broke apart.

Jack pushed off from the doorjamb and came part way to the group by the door. He focused on the child in Daniel's arms and asked him, "I'm afraid I don't have any mounts, Tealk. What should we do now?" 

Tealk cocked his head considering and then answered, "I know. Tell him he has many fine," he hesitated and asked something in the Blue tongue. 

Daniel supplied, struggling to keep a straight face, "toilets."

Tealk nodded and recapitulated in case Johnny was as dumb as most adults and hadn't gotten it yet, "Tell him he has many fine toilets."

Jack looked at Johnny and liked what he saw in the way Johnny was looking at the child. "So he likes little kids, in spite of himself. Maybe there's hope," he thought.

Johnny said, with just the barest hint of amusement underlacing his tone, "Jack, I've got to say, you've got your share of fine toilets."

Jack said, "I'd have to have a heart of stone not to be won over by a compliment like that. Thanks for your help, Tealk."

Daniel set Tealk down and he looked back up at Jack, pausing long enough to say, "You are welcome," before running to his big brother's side.

Jack said to the room at large, "This is my son, Johnny O'Neill. Why don't you each tell him who you are."

Seline said, "Danny and I already met Johnny outside" and nudged Chiona.

Chiona rolled her eyes as if to say "Oh puleeese" and said, "I'm Chiona."

"He knows I'm Tealk 'cause you just said," Tealk said patiently to his father who had once again confirmed his faith that adults were operating two stones shy of a load most of the time.

"I'm Jak."

"I'm Trina."

"You remember Sara, Johnny?" Jack said. Johnny nodded at the woman sitting in the rocking chair and looking decades older than her husband. Jack thought about how Sara had always been kind to Johnny and he had frequently repaid it with surliness. Sara didn't seem to remember any of that now but did seem to be almost her old self just for a moment. 

Jak had gone to the window and turned back to Johnny to ask, "Why is your helicopter still here? Shouldn't we ask the pilot to come in the house. He must be getting bored."

Johnny made a face briefly and explained, "I just wanted to talk to Daniel for a bit and then I was going to have him take me back."

Daniel shook his head. "I don't mean to be uncooperative Johnny but I've got several children here who need to go to bed and I'm worn out myself. I'm not up to any heavy duty conversations tonight."

Sara broke in, looking distressed. "Johnny, you must stay tonight. I haven't seen you in years, have I, Jack?" she asked suddenly uncertain.

Jack reassured her. "It has been years Sara. Johnny can sleep on the couch out here or share a room with Daniel and the little boys."

Johnny threw up his hands and said, with ill grace. "I guess I don't have any choice."

Chiona came to Johnny's side and took his arm. "I'll go tell the pilot for you. Do you want him to come back at a specific time in the morning?" Johnny shook his head. 

"It isn't going to be the same pilot, Chiona," Trina said condescendingly. She confided to Johnny, "She thought the pilot was really hot who brought us here. Chiona's crazy about men."

"Thank you, Trina," Chiona said sarcastically. "I'm sure Johnny completely understands. She addressed her next remark to Johnny, "Was he hot? I mean how would you rate him? Would you go after him?"

Jack could tell that Johnny was obviously completely taken aback. He was a major rock star. Girls snuck into his hotel room. The rumors in the one tabloid about his sexual orientation had probably only upped their numbers by making it more of a challenge. This girl, though, was casting him as her girl friend and he didn't know what to make of it. "I guess not," Chiona said, disappointed at the lack of a confirmation. "I'll go anyway."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The next day was beautiful and no one wanted to be in the house. Daniel's family made a group project of getting Sara set up on the porch in a rocking chair with an afghan tucked around her. Daniel was proud of the way they took turns sitting with her, all without any intervention on his part, while the rest of them found things to occupy themselves on the meadow and bank between the house and the water. There was great respect for the old on Lisseth and their mother had drummed it into the older four who had seen to it that Tealk never forgot it either.

There was no putting off the discussion with Johnny any longer and Daniel suggested a walk to the end of the island. "I'm listening, Johnny," he said.

Johnny scooped up some pebbles and starting pitching them in the water, one at a time, punctuating his words. "Jake is, well, easily hurt. He lets the public think what they want about him to keep his privacy, to keep from who he is and what he really cares about being out there for people to take pot shots at."

Daniel thought, "Jake may or may not be doing that but you sure as hell are."

Johnny continued, "He cares so much about everybody and he gets so invested in people, they just take advantage. If I wasn't there, they'd eat him alive." Daniel was getting increasingly unnerved by this discussion. He wondered if Jake had any life at all other than as a projection of Johnny's own problems.

Johnny threw in the last pebble and turned to face Daniel squarely. "My mother has got a bug up her butt and decided to drag the whole merry clan here today. I promised I wouldn't tell Jack but you're not Jack," he stated bluntly. "Boy are you ever not," he added as a gratuitous aside that Daniel wasn't sure was an insult or a compliment. "Please stay away from Jake. He doesn't need old wounds reopened."

Daniel returned Jake's hard look with one of his own. "I think you need to start letting Jake talk for Jake. Letting Jake decide what's good for him. Johnny, he's over 21 but he'll never really grow up if you don't back off."

Johnny snorted. "You screwed around with my mother and lost me my father. You couldn't fill his shoes and you left us to fend for ourselves. You're some sort of bogus resurrected whatever that caused Jake to spend his whole childhood being teased about being an Angel's kid but you weren't here to help him help deal with it. You should be damned glad Jake had me because he sure as hell never had you." Johnny stalked off then.

Daniel thought, bemused. "So much for trying to talk to me about Jake's problems. I'm beginning to think maybe HE is Jake's problem."

He started back toward the house himself and spotted a helicopter drawing closer from the opposite direction. Sam's whole merry clan was arriving as advertised. His steps slowed. Out of nowhere he remembered watching the removal of Darth Vader's helmet at the end of the "Revenge of the Jedi" years and years before. Some little kid on the other side of the theatre had blurted out, "This is going to be scary" and he had completely agreed. He really didn't want to see what was under the helmet but they were going to take it off anyway.

Daniel noticed with interest that as soon as the passengers were clear the helicopter took off again. It was an interesting clarification of Sam's intent.

He reached the front of the house at the same time as the new arrivals. The easy greetings happened first. Teal'c hugged Daniel, then Jack. Johnny greeted his mother and his brother. Then they all just stood. Tealk jumped down from the front porch and ran to Teal'c, stopping just shy of him. "I'm going to grow up to be like you. That's what it means when you get someone's name. Will it be hard?"

Teal'c reached down and swung the little boy up to his shoulders. "With my people, if you accept someone receiving your name, it means that you accept helping them on their journey. That makes it easier." He turned to face Sam. "Tealk, this is my wife, Samantha. Since we are married, she is part of my obligation and pleasure to help you."

The little boy leaned down and stretched out his hand to Sam. Looking at the dark haired reincarnation of her Jake, Sam melted inside and squeezed his hand. "I'm glad to meet you Tealk."

"Do you want to meet the rest of my family?" Tealk asked earnestly. Sam nodded vigorously, not trusting her voice. Seline holding Danny, Trina, Chiona, and Jak all came forward and Tealk presented each of them to Sam, introducing Jak to Teal'c as well since he had been born after Teal'c's visit to Lisseth.

Sam then turned and motioned Jonas and Jake to join them, saying, "This is your brother, Jake, and his brother, Jonas." Jonas contented himself with a warm smile and a "Glad to meet you" for each of them. Jake switched into his public appearance mode and hugged them in turn. Seline was last and she shoved him away so forcefully that he stumbled. Her sisters looked scandalized and she was visibly uncomfortable. 

Daniel was irritated with himself that he had stood back for so long and not shaped events better. It was just that looking at Sam had taken his breath away. She was still beautiful and he still loved her. His grief for Iona and the freshness of his memories of her had hidden how strong his feelings still were.

"You had no way of knowing that it's against our custom for an unmarried man to have any physical contact with a marriageable woman in this situation." Daniel saw his confusion. "Seline is my step-daughter. She isn't related to you by blood."

Johnny intervened then. "Must make for a LOT of fun on Saturday night," he said nastily and gave Seline an ugly look for making problems for Jake. Daniel realized that he was remembering that Chiona had had no problems touching him and wasn't buying Daniel's story. "We should have cleared the beard confusion up before now," Daniel chided himself.

Daniel noticed that Jack had moved up to flank him, to provide support in the contest of wills with Johnny. Seline was obviously horribly embarrassed at this point and muttered something about Danny needing a diaper change. She hurried off toward the house. Daniel bit his lip and asked Trina, in the Blue's language, "She's really embarrassed. Go after her will you. Calm her down and she that she doesn't hide in the house." Trina nodded obediently and ran off to catch up to her sister as she entered the house.

Daniel refused to show that he was paying any attention to Johnny. At this point, it was a little hard to remember how much he had always cared for him. He looked warmly at Jake. "It's been too long, Jake. It's really good to see you. Can I give you a hug?"

"It's against OUR custom for absentee fathers to show up out of the blue and start hugging their abandoned offspring," Johnny said.

Support came from an unexpected quarter. "Shut up, Johnny," Jonas said. "Let him answer his own questions."

Daniel thought, "Maybe I have an ally who can work from within." He asked Jake again, "Can I give you a hug?"

Jake stayed in command of the situation by giving Daniel a hug instead of an answer. His expression afterwards showed they shouldn't read too much into it. 

Chiona said to Jonas and Jake, "Come say hello to Jack's wife, Sara. She's up there on the porch all alone." She led them off and Johnny decided to follow.

The four comrades of old stood alone in the sunlight. Sam asked, in a small but determined voice, "Would local custom allow me to hug both of you?"

Jack took the lead now. "Local custom is definitely in favor of hugging good looking women" and he demonstrated by hugging her fiercely. 

Daniel just knew Jack wasn't feeling anything sexual. Jack's wife was a few yards away yet he didn't betray the least sign of discomfort. Daniel, on the other hand, felt like pheromenes must be rolling off him in waves. Teal'c was his friend and he had urged Teal'c to marry Sam. He felt like complete scum that these unbidden thoughts were swamping him. He gave Sam one of those sideways hugs where your bodies don't really contact, afraid she might figure out where he was coming from otherwise.

The morning then passed away with people milling around, falling into some really awkward conversations and others that went surprisingly well under the circumstances. The verdict was still out on the reunion. 


	3. Chapter 3

After a boisterous lunch with the two little boys keeping everyone, even Johnny and Jake in spite of themselves, laughing over the Tauri food, Teal'c, Jack, and Daniel walked alone to the end of the island at Teal'c's instigation. Teal'c was very serious. It required long years of friendship to be able to tell since his habitual expression was already appropriate for a funeral director or someone who read financial news on television. "There is something that I have not told Samantha. I want you to promise that you will speak of it to no one." Both Jack and Daniel promised faithfully. "The tretonin is hardly working any more. I saw Dr. JeffWeber who is leading the continued investigation into tretonin last month. He has given me 2-4 months. As Jaffa who have taken this since the early days are starting to demonstrate, there is not a gradual decline. All your systems suddenly fail, spectacularly and at once." 

Jack said, "We don't have to accept that Teal'c." Daniel agreed vigorously. Jack continued his theme, saying, "Remember how we thought you were a dead man when you lost your symbiote? Who is this Weber guy anyway?"

Teal'c responded gently, "JeffWeber actually reminds me of you, Jack. I believe he knows his business. Everyone dies someday and I have lived long for a warrior." Daniel drew Teal'c into a hug and then Jack took his turn.

Jack said, "We're not accepting this. Doctors are always saying stuff like this and being wrong."

"I want to die in battle," Teal'c said, "The Jaffa on Kartyn, P3J890, are in a serious fight and I can be of real value to them. Until Sam made her peace with her boys and now with you, I did not feel free to go."

Daniel had his arms wrapped around himself. "Just what is it you expect us to do for Sam, Teal'c?" he asked, sounding distant and faintly hostile. He moved a few paces back off the path and closer to the water.

"DanielJackson," Teal'c said with just a hint of scolding in his voice, "Do you remember that you and GeneralO'Neill both asked me to take care of Samantha?"

"We should never have done that to you, Teal'c. You've never complained but I know from experience how unpleasant it is being with someone who is only happy when she can pretend you're Jack," Daniel said bitterly.

Jack studied a small boulder next to the path with the fervor of a geology graduate student while Teal'c shook his head slowly. "You put limits on people Daniel that are not fair. When you were with Iona, were you thinking about Samantha?"

Daniel snapped his head up angrily, "Never. I loved Iona completely."

"But, at the same time, Daniel, you so clearly still love Samantha. I saw the way you looked at her earlier."

Daniel started to protest but Teal'c talked over him. "There is no dishonor in this. You did nothing and I know you would do nothing while she is my wife. But do not tell me that you do not love her. You loved both women at the same time. Why do you think Sam is incapable of loving more than one man at once?"

"Don't go there, Teal'c. I will NEVER be with Sam again. I don't care if she's the last woman on Earth or Lisseth or anywhere populated by humanoids. Things have changed. Sha'ree was just teenager. I suspect instead of full-out adult love, she had something closer to a crush on me because I was exotic and a figure of power for her people. We didn't have children or our own home. Hell we lived with her family. We were still on some sort of extended date when I lost her. So when I was with Sam, I didn't know what the kind of marriage that makes two people one is like. Now I do. I had over a decade of it with an incredible woman who wasn't comparing me to anyone else, after the first year anyway. I'd rather be alone or, God help me, even consider wearing a beard, than put up with that again."

Jack decided to get involved at that point. "Look, Daniel, Teal'c is not asking anyone to marry Sam. He's just asking us to be there to support her when she looses him, right Teal'c?"

Teal'c nodded and Jack pivoted to focus on Daniel. "You can get behind that, right? I can." Daniel nodded. It was reluctant but a nod.

Jack raised a hand then, suddenly struck by something. "I've got to ask. What was that part about wearing a beard? Why is that so hard to contemplate."

"Oh, that," Daniel said. He cleared his throat. "That's something we're going to have to clear up with my daughters. It's why they're comfortable with Johnny and not Jake."

"Huh?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow.

"On Lisseth, at least with the Blues, there's no allowance at all for being bisexual but a man can choose to be gay without severe consequences. There are a fair number who think that it's wrong but most people who disapprove keep it to themselves and are tolerant of the bearded men as individuals. In any case, if a man chooses to be gay, he must wear a beard. The taboo is extremely strong and there are real penalties if it's breeched."

"Sooooo," Jack said with dawning comprehension, "Chiona, Trina, and Seline think that Johnny is gay. That makes him unmarriagable and there is no custom against having casual physical contact with him." He began laughing. "I don't think we ought to tell them. He could use a puncture or two in his rock star ego."

Daniel looked askance at Jack. "You're not serious?"

Jack sobered up. "I suppose not but the kid is nigh on to insufferable. A major attitude adjustment is definitely in order but I have no idea from where. But, getting back to the topic at hand, when were you planning on going, Teal'c?"

Teal'c leaned back against a large pine growing near the path. He closed his eyes and looked very tired for a moment. "It needs to be soon. I think I will be 2 months, not 4. I will not tell Sam that I am dying. I will only tell her that I need to do this for Rylac, for my son."

"Rylac is on Kartyn?" Jack asked surprised. "I thought he was still leading the effort in Dandoine."

Teal'c shook his head. "Not any more. I am going to tell Samantha today and, hopefully, I can leave tomorrow. Rylac, as the leader of roughly half the Jaffa, has been able to arrange that I will get passage through the gate without a problem whenever I ask to Kartyn."

They walked slowly back to the house, not talking, each mired in their own sorrow.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Chiona and Seline sat at the edge of the water with the baby and were delighting him by letting him pat it with his hand. They were both getting a little wet but the late spring day was mild. The ground was slightly lumpy underneath but they were not used to a great deal of physical comfort and barely noticed. "What do you think of your brother and his brothers?" Seline asked.

Chiona said, "I watched Jake more than I talked to him. He looks so much like our Danil that at first I found it very odd that he acted so differently. But I observed him with the people he loves, with each of his brothers and with his mother. I saw Danil's tenderness and caring. And something else. When he really gets absorbed in something, it becomes clear that he is very intelligent but the rest of the time, I think he hides it."

Seline nodded in agreement. "Did you notice how he changes when Johnny is around?"

Chiona reflected for a moment and then agreed. "Johnny is a major problem, isn't he?"

"Oh yes," said Seline who was still irritated by Johnny's nastiness when they had been meeting the new arrivals.

"It's a pity about Johnny really, being both bearded and a truly nasty person," Chiona said dreamily, "I mean he is truly beautiful, isn't he? I wonder what his boyfriend looks like?"

"I suppose he would have one. Jake has that beautiful girl in the video," Seline said with a barely detectable edge of irritation in her voice.

"Actually, he doesn't," Chiona corrected her. "Jonas told me they broke up." She looked over at her sister. "Seline, are interested in Jake?"

Seline took a pebble away from little Danny who was about to put it in his mouth. "No love," she said softly. "Are you hungry?" The little boy had his hand in his mouth now. She moved him into position and pulled up her oversized t-shirt so he could nurse.

Chiona persisted, "Well, are you?" She took Danny's free hand that was scrabbling at his mother and waited for Seline's response.

Seline was blushing when she finally answered her sister. "That video. It put pictures in my head. I've never seen that much of a man, any man, except Mindo. And the things they were doing. I mean, I did more but I wasn't watching myself. And he is so handsome. I think if it wasn't for the blonde hair it would make me uncomfortable because he looks so like Danil in the face. But the blonde hair is so exotic, isn't it? You just want to bury your hands in it, have it trailing across your body, your.." Suddenly she realized where she was taking, this talking to her innocent, never married sister and caught herself. "Anyway, when I first saw Jake, I felt really funny. I hope Mindo doesn't know."

"Oh Seline," Chiona said, stroking the baby's silky head. "You don't think Mindo expects you to never feel like a woman again, do you? But not to worry. Johnny isn't going to let you get anywhere with Jake. Haven't you noticed that he's got fences a mile high around him."

"More like stone walls," her sister agreed. "Still, I guess I can look. It is sort of nice to feel those things again. I just hope he doesn't notice me looking."

Chiona got a determined expression on her face. "Maybe I can distract Johnny somehow so you have a chance to spend some time with Jake."

"How in the world will you do that?" Seline asked. True, Chiona's inventiveness was amazing. Trina and Tealk were very straightforward, like Danil, but Jak and Chiona instinctively thought in convoluted paths and had a dozen plots going all the time. "And, Chiona, he's so damn unpleasant. I couldn't ask anyone to spend time with him."

Chiona shrugged. "You'll owe me. I'll find a way to make it worth my while."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The sounds were very loud. They cut through the audio from another Macgyver DVD playing in the living room, Chiona and Trina arguing about what had happened to a bracelet Chiona had borrowed from her sister, Johnny's noodling on a guitar Jake had brought with him, the friendly banter accompanying the card game Jonas and Jake were teaching Seline, and an explanation Daniel was giving Jack, and Jack was trying valiantly to derail, about some Egyptian something or another.

At first there was a loud crash of something breaking. Then Sam wailed a long, drawn out "No." Jack and Daniel knew exactly what this was about. It was raining and Teal'c hadn't been able to go outside to talk to Sam. They had seen him follow Sam into the kitchen and had been tense, waiting for something like this. They both sped into the kitchen ahead of her sons who, not forewarned, reacted more slowly. There was broken china littering the floor, spewing out from an epicenter directly in front of Sam. She must have been holding something when Teal'c told her about his departure. Teal'c was trying to hold her but she was raining blows on him with her fists, making it difficult. She was crying now and yelling at him, "You bastard. I married you because I thought I finally found someone I could trust not to run out on me. Not to want to go off to God knows where and not care if I wanted to go or not."

Jack and Daniel had arrived first but they wasted the advantage because they had no idea of what to do. By contrast, Johnny didn't hesitate. Still holding the guitar in one hand he advanced on the couple and pushed Teal'c away from his mother. "What did he do to you, Mom? Did he cheat on you?" he demanded.

Sam looked at him confused for a moment. His wide of the mark question calmed her down a little. "Do to me?" Teal'c was shaking his head and leaning back against a counter with his arms folded. Suddenly Sam was energized anew and literally screamed out, "The bastard is going to Kartyn to fight in some Jaffa war."

Johnny looked somewhat abashed. "Oh," was all he said and he raised his hands and backed off a little. In the other room, Sara started to cry. She didn't know what the problem was but she picked up on the atmosphere. Jack immediately left the kitchen, not thinking it right to leave comforting her to the helpful Jackson children.

Jake and Jonas came forward now and Jake tried to put his arm around her but she shook him off. "Talk to him. Tell him he shouldn't do this," she commanded them.  
Jonas looked at Teal'c with his own pain added to the pain he felt for his mother. "Please, Teal'c. You might not come back. My mom needs you and I need you. Please," he trailed off brokenly.

If there was ever a moment when Teal'c wavered, Daniel was sure this was it. He was also sure that his resolve was strengthened by his belief that if his leaving was painful, watching him die, possibly right in front of them would be worse. "Rylac asked me. He needs me and he is also my son," Teal'c stated gently. The way he spoke to Jonas, it didn't sound as if he was invoking a superior claim but rather putting Jonas in the class of being his son as well.

Jonas took it that way and teared up. He put his arms around Teal'c and whispered, "Be as careful as you can, okay. Try to come back to us."

Sam was enraged. "You're giving up just like that. Giving up the only real father I've been able to give you?" She looked like she was going to attack Teal'c again.

Jake put his arms around her now and didn't let her shake him off. He showed surprising insight when he said, "Teal'c is a Jaffa warrior. He's been one all his life. You can't love him and not let him be what he is, follow his own code." He looked down at her from his superior height. "Mom, don't make him leave carrying a memory of an angry face and angry words into battle."

Sam looked up at her handsome son and the kindness in his eyes and she broke. She began to sob in huge, gulping sobs, and groped her way to Teal'c who held her and rocked her. Everyone else had the good grace to leave the kitchen at that point.

When the chopper came for Teal'c in the morning, he had the necklace he had given Sam years before around his neck and her tear streaked but loving face to remember. Her sons were clustered around her, holding her as the chopper lifted off. Daniel felt relief mixed with something he didn't want to examine too closely. There wouldn't need to be any sacrifice to fulfill the promise to Teal'c. Sam had her boys and they would be there for her.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Later that day, Jack asked Sam and Daniel to go for a walk with him. Stubbornly refusing to believe in bad luck, he led them to the same fateful spot where Teal'c had told Daniel and Jack that he was dying. Jack was carrying a small box. He set it on the ground and pushed a button to turn it on when they reached the point. "Supposedly, if you believe the internet, it'll jam remote listening."

"Jack," Sam protested faintly. "Isn't that just a tetch paranoid?"

"Not at all, Sam," Daniel affirmed. "The Tauri have to control everything and everybody."

Sam looked at him like he was crazy. "'The Tauri', Daniel?"

Jack made a dismissive gesture. "I've already been over that with him, Sam. He's seceded from his own planet. But this time he's right."

Daniel made a sardonic victory gesture and Sam rolled her eyes. "About four months ago, an old, old friend called me out of the blue, Larry. He and his wife, who died of cancer just a few months ago, were Sara's and my closest friends the first few years we were married," he looked to make sure they were paying attention and added, "that is the first time. He asked if he could come and see me, made it sound like it had something to do with a request Selma had made before she died. What could I say, right? So he shows up by chopper, comes in the house, and starts writing me notes that have nothing to do with the banal conversation he's having out loud. While he's talking, he does a bug sweep and shows me maybe, I don't know, a dozen but he leaves them in place. For the sake of whomever's listening, he takes this cell call and says something's come up and he has to leave but he wants to come back the next day and finish his visit. Actually, I switch clothes with him and he stays with Sara while I leave on the chopper." He paused and sat down on a boulder, looking at Sam and Daniel expectantly.

"What you want us to beg you to go on?" Sam asked. "I never knew you were such a ham."

"I just want to make sure I have your full attention. Anyway, I go to Minneapolis and have this clandestine meeting with three vey highly placed government types who are representing even more highly placed government officials. There is a very strong, well-financed, and almost unbeatable coalition that is about to make a move to end the policy that allows worlds like Lisseth, worlds with desirable resources that we want, to tell us to get lost even though we have the technology to conquer them."

"That would make us no better than the Goa'uld," Daniel sputtered and was about to go off on one of his little speeches but Jack forestalled him.

"They have other things up their sleeves but they want us to be part of a campaign to keep the public firmly against this. Others have already started."

Sam said, "Kate Deluise and Kevin Oshimi, right?"

Jack nodded, approvingly. "Right. But they think we could get more attention and be more convincing if we talk about the original dream, draw the comparison Daniel just made to the Goa'uld, and Daniel makes the people of Lisseth and other such worlds seem real so what they would suffer is convincing. A lot of people automatically assume that if you bring modern medicine and conveniences somewhere, people will be so much better off, it's worth the loss of their freedom and their culture."

Jack subsided and let this all sink in. Daniel and Sam were each remembering a host of other worlds, peoples that had had value but less technology. He let them speculate about what military conquest would do. Finally, he resumed. "A compromise position that would help, they think, and I agree, would be to push those worlds to take more help than most of them do now. Get rid of some of the worst public health problems. Let baby steps be made toward convincing them to be more enlightened about things like racism and unequal treatment of women. But we have to convince the public that the way to do this is not military conquest and subjugation, conversion at sword point and an armed presence that can never leave because the hearts of the people aren't won. If there is a genuine oppressor and the people want us… well," Jack shrugged. "how often does that happen, really?"

Daniel said, "You're not going to tell us who these people are?"

Jack responded with a crooked smile, "I promised I would say nothing until you were actually on board." He made a face. "There's one more thing to put to you, and don't shoot me because I'm just the messenger here."

"Well?" they both asked, a trifle aggravated.

"They want us to ask our kids. Jake, Johnny, Jonas, they've got a real fan base and your kids from Lisseth, Daniel, they'd be giving faces to the potential victims for the world. Wouldn't hurt that everyone of them is tremendously photogenic."

Daniel looked absolutely disgusted. "Not happening, Jack. Not for any of my kids, including Jake."

Sam said, "Daniel, Jake's a grown man. He's had enough of Johnny making his decisions. Don't you start." She turned to the fit, silver-haired man sitting on the boulder. "Is there any danger to them? How nasty are these people?"

Jack stood up and brushed off his jeans. He was deliberately taking his time about answering, thinking the question through. At last he said, "There's a lot of money involved. Some of those worlds have some pretty juicy stuff. I'd say murder is possible, although not likely."

He turned to Daniel. "Let's say you do nothing and go back to Lisseth with them. Well, Lisseth is one of the first places they'll move on. Something could happen to them anyway. AND there's a real possibility they won't let you go back to Lisseth. Don't you think they know how much influence you have there? How much trouble you could make for an occupying force? Maybe," he said, warming to his topic, "Just maybe the safest place to be is in full sight where anything that happened to you would be in full view of the public and maybe avoided because of the questions that would get raised."

Sam and Daniel exchanged a look. Daniel said, "Personally I just love it when I don't have any option but to do what someone else wants me to do, no matter how I feel about it."

Jack sighed. "I hear you but, Daniel, this could be your swan song. Solve this and go back to Lisseth and you can safely stay there forever."

Daniel said, sounding improbably amused, "Or until I die, again and for, finally, the last time."

They all laughed because it was either that or cry and they turned to go back to the house and, ultimately, back into the fast lane one last time.


End file.
